Saturday, April 18, 2015

Diagnosis

After the initial leg jerk was felt, my initial reaction was to
text a friend of mine who is a doctor. I asked her if she thought it
could be a seizure, and she said it was unlikely, so I quickly put the idea to
back of my mind. I have a healthy baby, of course I am neurotic, there is
no way she is having a seizure. On Monday night, again after Sonya
finished feeding I felt the same leg jerk and immediately took out my phone to
record what she was doing. I then called her pediatricians office and
headed over to Phoenix Children's ER.

Everyone was so pleased I had taken a
video. We were admitted by the morning and they did so many tests.
A 30 minute EEG (results normal), MRI (results normal), another Spinal
Tap (Results normal), blood work, blood cultures, they literally ran the gamut
of testing (all of which ended up normal). A neurologist came up to her
room and we discussed going into the PEMU (Pediatric Epilepsy Monitoring Unit)
for 24-48 hour monitoring.

"If there is seizure activity, it
will make itself known"

Wednesday morning, Sonya was hooked up to
the EEG and the waiting began. 10:26am, the first time I hit the seizure
button. The bright lights of the room flash on, 5 nurses rush in, the
clock is watched, the seconds are counted, and we wait for the seizure to end.
During this time, I do what I am supposed to, I watch the clock, I count
the seconds, I put my hands on my baby and let her know I am there for her, and
she will be ok. Then it stops, and she recovers, and she cries a cry that
would break the heart of someone who doesn't like children....and I cry too.

11:26, it happens again, and 12:26pm it
happens, like clockwork....and now I dread as it nears the half hour mark.
The seizures are confirmed, and medication will begin...and as we wait
for the medication, we wait for another seizure. Sonya has epilepsy.